South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries announced on March 4 that it has signed a contract for the construction of a shuttle tanker with an Oceania-based shipping company, with a total order value of KRW198.8 billion ($149 million), which is expected to be delivered to the owner in August 2026.
Together with the latest order, Samsung Heavy Industries has taken orders for 18 new vessels worth $3.8 billion this year, which is 39 percent of the annual order-taking target of $9.7 billion. In terms of ship type, it includes 15 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, 2 very large liquid ammonia carriers (VLAC), and 1 shuttle tanker.
“We will do our best to utilize our technological competitiveness in various ship types such as LNG carriers, ammonia carriers, and shuttle tankers to achieve order targets,” said a Samsung Heavy Industries official.
It is understood that shuttle tankers, which are mainly used to transport crude oil produced by offshore facilities such as floating production storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs) to onshore storage depots, are categorized as high-value-added vessels, and are more than 1.5 times more expensive to build than Suezmax crude oil carriers of the same size. Clarkson data shows that the recent market price of 158,000 dwt crude oil carriers is $85 million.